(916) 313-3030 
June 9th, 2026
What Beneficiaries Can Do Against a Bad Trustee: Contingency Fee Options in California
Publication Date June 9, 2026 in Trust Litigation
When the Trustee Holds All the Cards
I am Michael Hackard, founder of Hackard Law, and over five decades of practice I have stood beside trust beneficiaries who felt powerless against trustees who had turned a position of trust into a vehicle for self-enrichment. Trips to Hawaii. New cars. Frozen distributions. I have seen it all, and I know how daunting it feels when the person controlling the money is also the person spending it on themselves. My firm serves families across Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles, and I have authored four books on inheritance protection and produced more than 1,000 educational videos with over seven million views. My goal in every case is the same: level the playing field so that heirs, beneficiaries, and elder abuse victims get a fair shot at justice.
Hackard Law provides contingency fee representation for qualified trust and estate cases – no upfront costs required. If you believe a trustee is abusing their position, call us today at (916) 313-3030.
Quick Summary
Trustees often hold significant financial and legal advantages over the beneficiaries they are supposed to serve, but those advantages are not insurmountable. Contingency fee representation can shift the balance of power and give beneficiaries access to experienced litigators without out-of-pocket costs.
- Trustees can use trust funds to defend themselves, creating an unequal financial dynamic
- Contingency fee arrangements remove the upfront cost barrier for low and moderate income beneficiaries
- California law governs how contingency agreements must be structured to protect clients
- Hackard Law litigates major trustee abuse cases across California
- Acting early is critical – delays can allow asset dissipation to continue
Understanding the Trustee’s Built-In Advantage
A trustee occupies a position of enormous power. They control the assets, manage distributions, and often have access to trust funds to pay for their own legal defense. When a trustee decides to fight a challenge, they can draw on the very resources that rightfully belong to the beneficiaries. This imbalance is one of the defining realities of trust litigation in California.
For appropriately acting trustees, this financial power makes sense – defending a well-formed trust against a frivolous challenge is a legitimate use of trust resources. But when a trustee is the one behaving badly, that same power becomes a shield for misconduct. Heirs, beneficiaries, and elder abuse victims who want to challenge a bad trustee often face a well-funded opponent before the first filing is even made.
This is not a reason to walk away. It is a reason to understand your options and move strategically. Hackard Law has litigated these imbalances across Sacramento County probate courts and beyond, and the firm knows how to press forward even when the other side holds the financial advantage at the outset.
How Contingency Fees Shift the Balance of Power
Contingency fee arrangements are one of the most powerful tools available to trust beneficiaries. Under a contingency agreement, the attorney is paid a percentage of the recovery – not an hourly rate billed regardless of outcome. If there is no recovery, there is no attorney fee. This structure transforms access to justice for people who could not otherwise afford to hire experienced litigators for what can be very expensive, very complex litigation.
For a deeper look at how these arrangements work in California trust and estate cases, the contingency fee guide for California trust litigation is a useful starting point. The short version: a contingency arrangement means your attorney’s financial interest is aligned with yours. They win when you win.
Case Pattern: Trustee Self-Dealing in a Family Trust
A beneficiary came to Hackard Law after discovering that the successor trustee – a sibling – had been paying personal expenses out of the trust for years while delaying distributions and claiming the trust lacked sufficient assets. With contingency fee representation, the beneficiary was able to pursue an accounting and challenge the trustee’s conduct without bearing the upfront cost of litigation. Cases following this pattern often result in trustee removal and recovery of misappropriated funds.
California’s Rules for Contingency Fee Agreements
California law does not leave contingency arrangements to informal handshakes. The State Bar’s ethical rules and the Business and Professions Code set clear requirements that protect clients entering into these agreements. Hackard Law follows these rules in every contingency engagement.
The agreement must be in writing, and a signed duplicate must be provided to the client. The client must be told that the fee is negotiable – it is not a take-it-or-leave-it number set by the attorney alone. The client must also be informed of the percentage fee and how litigation costs and disbursements will affect both the fee and the net recovery. These disclosures exist to ensure that clients understand exactly what they are agreeing to before the case begins.
Understanding how contingency fees bridge the representation gap in California trust litigation helps beneficiaries make informed decisions about whether this path is right for their situation.
Case Pattern: Out-of-State Trustee, Local Beneficiaries
In cases where a trustee lives outside California but administers a California trust, beneficiaries sometimes assume geography limits their options. Hackard Law has handled cases in this pattern where the trustee’s distance was used as a delay tactic – slow responses, missed deadlines, and minimal communication. Contingency fee representation allowed the beneficiaries to pursue the case aggressively without worrying about mounting hourly bills during a prolonged dispute.
What Trustee Misconduct Actually Looks Like
Trustee abuse is not always dramatic. Sometimes it is. Trips to Hawaii charged to the trust. A new vehicle purchased with trust funds. Distributions frozen while the trustee lives comfortably off assets that belong to the beneficiaries. These are the cases that make headlines, but misconduct also appears in quieter forms.
A trustee who refuses to provide accountings, who delays distributions without explanation, who makes self-dealing investments, or who excludes a beneficiary from information they are legally entitled to receive – all of these are potential grounds for legal action. California law imposes fiduciary duties on trustees, and those duties are enforceable. Beneficiaries who have been frozen out of a contested trust have legal remedies, including petitions to compel accountings, surcharge actions, and trustee removal.
For decades, I have stood with families who were told by the trustee – sometimes a sibling, sometimes a professional fiduciary, sometimes a caregiver – that there was nothing left or that the trust simply did not allow for distributions. In case after case, the truth was different. A steadfast commitment to truth restores what dishonesty tried to steal.
Key Definitions
- Trustee: The person or institution appointed to manage trust assets and administer distributions according to the trust’s terms and California law.
- Fiduciary duty: The legal obligation a trustee owes to beneficiaries – to act in their best interest, with loyalty, prudence, and impartiality.
- Contingency fee: A fee arrangement where the attorney is paid a percentage of the recovery rather than an hourly rate, with no fee owed if there is no recovery.
- Surcharge: A court-ordered remedy requiring a trustee to personally compensate the trust or beneficiaries for losses caused by the trustee’s misconduct.
- Trustee removal: A court action seeking to replace a trustee who has breached their fiduciary duties or is otherwise unfit to serve.
- Accounting: A formal record of all trust transactions – income, expenses, distributions, and assets – that trustees are required to provide to beneficiaries.
- Self-dealing: A trustee’s use of trust assets for personal benefit, which is generally prohibited under California law.
- Disinherited heir: A person who expected to receive an inheritance but was excluded, often through a trust amendment made under suspicious circumstances.
- Business and Professions Code: California statute that, among other things, governs the requirements for written contingency fee agreements between attorneys and clients.
What to Do Next
- Look for any written trust documents you have access to – the trust itself, amendments, and any accountings the trustee has provided.
- Get copies of any communications from the trustee, including letters, emails, or notices about distributions or trust administration.
- Try to avoid signing any releases or settlement agreements presented by the trustee before speaking with an attorney.
- Look for a pattern of behavior – repeated delays, vague explanations, or refusals to provide information are all worth documenting.
- Try to gather financial records if they are available to you, including bank statements or property records tied to the trust.
- Look into whether the trustee has made any recent changes to trust investments or sold trust property without explanation.
- Consider whether other beneficiaries share your concerns – a coordinated challenge is often stronger than an individual one.
- Review the top common probate and trust disputes to understand how your situation may fit a recognized pattern.
- Reach out to learn about your options under the service areas Hackard Law covers across California.
Call Hackard Law at (916) 313-3030 to discuss whether a contingency fee arrangement is right for your case, and visit our contact page to get started.
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Michael Hackard is the founder of Hackard Law, a California trust and estate litigation firm with more than five decades of experience protecting the inheritance rights of families across Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles. He is the author of four published books on inheritance protection and has produced more than 1,000 educational videos with over seven million views.